Greetings Comrades in Japan

Silence before?

Arde nervously took out another document and handed it to Emperor Ludius. He then began to speak "As your majesty can see, the Fleet has become totally demoralized as a result of the stories of the surviving sailors from the Fourth Fleet." He paused for a moment to think about what he should say next so as not to anger the emperor with his request.

"In addition, I want to ask for mercy for them because if their information is true it means that our fleet can only win as a result of luck and huge numbers. Furthermore I ask for permission to disperse our ships to minor ports, this will reduce the chances of destroying the entire Fleet in one hit as the last raid showed." He said after a moment, clearly asking but not bringing shame in his tone. He made it clear that he was doing this to give even a shadow of a chance of victory over their enemy.

The Emperor listened and read the report, when he finished he sat in silence for a moment thinking about it. Arde was beginning to get deeply worried because of it. The nervous silence was broken by the Emperor's light laughter "Don't be afraid Commander-in-Chief"

And then he added more seriously "After a long consideration I agree with your argument, it is necessary to disperse the fleet to avoid completely sinking it, but I want them to be ready to strike with the whole of our Navy against the enemy invasion force. If what they wrote in the report is true it means that they have very few Polish ships and we may be able to successfully remove the threat from them if we get rid of them."

Arde nodded with inward relief "Yes it is your love and thank you for your grace" And in his spirit he added to himself that this plan though it might work would cost them a great deal whether it succeeded or not. Of course the Emperor's will is law and he does not intend to oppose it.

The Emperor then turned to the Director of Finance Decimus. "How is the financial situation?"

Decimus looking nervously at the documents answered -Your Imperial Majesty, the destruction of Duro was a huge blow to the economy of our country and reduced our arms production by about 23-29% fortunately we did not focus exclusively on this city according to your requests and we have moved and built other cities in the interior of the continent which act as centers of armament."

Then he put the document down on the table after which he put his elbows on the table and grabbed his hands and with a somewhat secretive look behind his glasses said.
"I won't hide, it is only thanks to your perspicacity that we were able to avoid the darkest scenario in which a blow on Duro would have allowed us to overpower our economy."

The Emperor nodded at this. It was his idea which he had suggested to his father and after his father's death he had pursued with even greater insistence. As he himself stated, it is foolish to concentrate all production for the army in one place. No other Superpower in the world does this. Why should they do otherwise? Not even the barbarian kingdoms did it!

Decimus continued "Unfortunately this process of dispersal of war production was less focused on the shipyards, it was to be taken care of from next year and the losses our fleet will suffer will be much harder to make up for."

So what we lose we won't get back within the next decade. Arde thought to himself with concern.

The Emperor looked grimly and said "I understand Director, and how soon will we transition to a war economy?" Decimus looked at the Emperor then corrected his glasses and replied "I need between 2 and 5 months your love." Seeing the Emperor's questioning face "It depends on how the people will approach the situation and if the raids will be repeated. The worst-case scenario is five months, although I'm afraid it could be longer." The Emperor nodded in understanding.

Then he turned to his spy master Julius "Any new information Julius?" Julius sadly shook his head "None Your Highness, every agent I sent to Poland disappeared without a trace, the only thing I can offer is gossip and second hand information usually from Japan or merchants. The whole country is said to be one big prison from which uninvited guests can not go out or enter." The Emperor was a bit touched by this news, a country where you can not get in, the first time such a thing happened in history.